Seeking Sleep

It's been a full week of working our annual tennis tournament. Up at 5:15 am most mornings, home somewhere between 6-8:30 pm for six days straight and then onto a somewhat lighter schedule for the weekend of finals.

It's a week where I feel that I "power through it" and at some point during the week, I hit the wall. Having run the tournament for six years now, I've come to expect the impact. What I've also come to learn is to respect what it means...staying with my yoga practice to keep me calm, energized and able to endure. That's not to say that moments don't pop up that I want to scream or collapse, but I've been using my yoga tools all week.

I have continued my morning meditations, packed healthy snacks for the day and brought along two yoga blocks to open my chest and stretch my back during moments of relative quiet (that are sometimes infrequent...but they exist). I also take a deep breath when confronted with someone who challenges me, try to make eye contact with people as I greet them at the desk and feel gratitude that so many people want to be part of this event.

One of the most beneficial practices is getting to bed early and getting the sleep I need to fuel me throughout the long days. It takes discipline and organization to do it, but the pay off is noticeable.

And that leads me to my thought of the week...it's bedtime!

It Takes A Village

This week we are hosting the Babolat World Tennis Classic, a large event seeing some of the best senior tennis players in action.

This annual event has grown in size since its inception but one thing has remained constant; the need for volunteers to run the event.

My thought for this week is around those who donate their time and energy to helping others, whether it be for a tennis tournament, for charity or during a disaster. A few people may be recognized as the organizers or directors, but it does take a village of people for things to run smoothly.

I hold a deep sense of gratitude to all the people who step up this time of year and assist in making our tennis tournament and my subbed yoga classes possible. I have always held a strong sense of independence. So strong, that asking for help from someone else was always difficult for me as I felt it was either a weakness of mine or an imposition for someone else.

The great lesson that our volunteers have taught me over the past six years is that THEY get enjoyment out of the process as much as I need their helping hands.

I try to apply this idea outside of the annual tournament in allowing myself to ask for help when I need it. It IS ok to not be superwoman and able to do it all by myself. Besides, that can get lonely...

Thank you many times over to all who support us, now and throughout the year. We really couldn't do it, without you.

From An Idea, Grows A Story

Recently I saw the movie Avatar and one thing really stood out for me, aside from it being an immaculately produced visual journey, was the realization of an idea.


This weeks thought has been inspired by the process of origination to manifestation. To have the seed of an idea grow from an intellectual beginning into a physical projection is something we all have the potential to experience.

The question is, how often do we have these great ideas but never bring them into reality?

A client recently quoted a book about every person having a novel sitting within them. We all have our different stories. The challenge is stepping into the process of making our vision come into existence.

If you have something sitting deep within that has been in your consciousness for quite some time, not just a flash of an idea, honoring that as valid is the first step. When we acknowledge our inner vision, we can then begin to take the steps of breathing life into it. I think it takes two vital ingredients to make it happen.

Courage and discipline.

To become more courageous we might need to seek a mentor or share the idea with someone who believes in our ability to bring it to maturity. We need to trust our inner voice. That might mean sitting quietly on a regular basis and giving our inner voice an opportunity to be heard, rather than covering it up with exterior distractions.

We then need to set a plan for how we're going to achieve our goal. It might mean establishing a daily practice whether it be for gaining better health, creating a business or writing a book.

Regular commitment to our goal will certainly bring us to a place of seeing all possibilities. Otherwise it just remains a great idea sitting in the back closet of our mind.

If you've had something bursting to get out, now is the time to think about how that can happen. Believe that you can do it. Breathe life into the process by beginning with your own breath.

Inhale deeply. Exhale slowly. Dare to dream...


This weeks thought is dedicated to my brother Ken, who recently finished the first draft of his first novel. I am currently reading his writings which also inspired my thought for the week.

Finding Compassion

A few years ago, I went to a talk by His Holiness The Dalai Lama in Melbourne, Australia. It was held in the Rod Laver arena that is home to the Australian Open Tennis Championships, which translate into holding a few thousand people. It was striking to me how quiet such a huge crowd became when His Holiness entered the arena. That was the first thing I remember clearly...the hushed masses.

The second was the one word that was the theme of the evening and the on-going mission by His Holiness. Compassion.

Recently, the thought around the word and act of compassion has been prominent in my thinking. How can I, an everyday gal, find more compassion within myself and others? What I do know is that it's a great concept and extremely challenging to practice.

Pema Chodron, a well published Buddhist teacher has translated this theme into practical ways of enacting it. To begin to find more compassion for ourselves, we can try to put ourselves into the perspective of others. What is the experience throught their eyes? What is it like to be in their shoes? When we begin to create their experience for ourselves, we often have a shift in us being right and them being wrong.

I had this theory in my head and then, not surprisingly, was given an opportunity to test it out.

During the hectic holiday season, I was on my way to work enjoying one of those beautiful desert mornings with low light and crystal blue skies. I was stopped at a red light that had a "No Turn on Red" sign. So, I sat waiting for the light to turn green. As I came to this stop, I hear the guy in a truck behind me, laying on his horn and can see him yelling at me via my rear view mirror, wanting me to turn right on red.

I rolled my window down and pointed to the sign. His reaction was to continue yelling at me (which I couldn't hear, but could see his agitation). When the light turned green, I turned right. We both came to the next set of lights and he pulled up along side of me to make a left as I was going straight.

Once again, I rolled down my window. He did the same and before I could say anything he defensively says, "yah, yah, Ma'am, I saw the sign...". To which I said, "I was just obeying the law". My unevolved self wanted to call him a name and make some sarcastic comment, but my ever evolving self step in front and shrugged her shoulders.

It really struck me that in that moment, I had a choice to either feel that I was right and he was wrong (and impatient) or to find a lesson sitting within. The lesson rang out loud and clear and it was that the guy probably wasn't having a peaceful morning and was in a hurry. He might not have noticed the crystal blue sky. He needed to be some place. And I had a choice to either feed my momentary anger or to reconnect to enjoying the morning.

Once I realized the choice, I learned the lesson of practicing compassion. Not only for the impatient driver, but compassion for me, choosing to be how I wanted to be.

The challenge for you this week is before reacting, just step into another persons perspective, even if just for a moment. You might be surprised at what you see, feel and experience.

The Light In Me...

The decorations, the music, the parties, the presents and the rushing around are now a thing of the recent past. The quiet after the storm. But is it really quiet?

Do you ever get the feeling that after the holidays we rush back into our daily lives that are just a different type of hectic to the holiday season? For those of us who live in a seasonal place, we are just stepping into the truly busiest time of our year. For the next 4-5 months, our roads are more crowded, we have to look for a "good" parking spot, we might have to wait to get a table at a restaurant and there seems to be one event/gala, golf/tennis tournament, seasonal parties and openings at least every weekend, if not many nights of each week. Phew!

It's no wonder we call it a season, because if it were year round, we'd be really tired!

My thought for this week is to keep the idea of balance in our awareness. That amidst the chaos, we stop to take a breath. But truly, that's underselling how beneficial finding inner quiet can be. It's giving a bit too much weight to keeping engaged and busy as though that feeds our soul more than being disconnected.

This is not a new theme or weekly thought from me, but a repetition of something that is so potent and underpracticed that reiterating it seems more than appropriate given what lies ahead.

During the first few restorative yoga classes that I have been teaching at Rancho Mirage Women's Health Center, you can see and feel the shift from how people begin the class, to how people leave the class. It's as though there is this unfed need for us to rest and renew. Once the class steps into that quiet space, it's as though they've realized how ravenous they have been for this type of nourishment.

It is so easy to get distracted by daily living. Our culture is about the best at doing it, so much so we don't realize it's taking us away from our inner selves. When we begin to open the space in our hearts and recognize our own Divine spark that lies within, we are in a better place to recognize that same connection in others.

That is truly the essence of the word, "Namaste" (Nah-mah-stay).

The light in me, honors the light in you.

If we stay overly busy, disconnected and distracted we don't hear the word "Namaste" within our own souls. When we get quiet, unplug, relax and engage our breath awareness we not only see it in ourselves, but it spreads outward.

In a time such as this, when peace is sought on so many levels, make more of a commitment to finding the peace that lies within.

I have a bumper sticker on my car from www.restorativeteachers.com that says, "Changing the world, one savasana at a time". For those unfamiliar with savasana, it is the final relaxation pose at the end of each class, where each student is supported in a lying down position on the floor. Just imagine if everyone spent 15 minutes in a relaxation pose every day...what a wonderful world this could be.

Namaste'

Resolution Time. Again.

I've already heard the words being spoken, those words that seem fundamental towards the end of each calendar year. "In January, I'm going on a diet! That's my resolution..."

When we make a resolution, we are making a promise to ourselves with the intention of doing something that yields change, generally in the direction of self-improvement. The fitness industry banks on us making these promises and anticipates the January onslaught of new member enrollments. They often will tempt us with a great deal for the entire year and in actual fact, know that a large percentage of the new members will stop attending within a few months. If people were able to hold onto their desire for change as of January 1, there would be more people than gyms could manage.

Why is it that we have such great intentions only to realize a few weeks later we've lost our way?

My thought for the week is to offer ourselves more compassion when trying to make a change. It is said that permanent change takes anywhere between 21-30 days to take hold. That translates into it taking time. We often lose our way because we become impatient with the process and perhaps don't see any change in the time we expect.

Change also takes conscious and consistent choice and practice. If we want to create a new way of being or doing, we need to practice it over and over again. You know, try it on. See how it fits. We need to shift the unfamiliar feeling to a familiar one and that takes repetition.

One of my favorite sayings is, "consistency is the key". If we go to a yoga class randomly, then what we get out of it will likely be momentary. If we want to invite a more centered way of living into daily life, we have to create ways of doing that...DAILY! The magic happens in the doing.

So if you are thinking about making a resolution I would suggest being clear on ONE thing. Design a plan that fits into your life and stick with it, without excuse, interruption or hesitation for at least a month. Avoid the trap of letting what you would like to shift, move down your list of priorities. Keep it in the top position until you feel that it's embedded--like brushing our teeth every day.

And if now isn't the time, then go easy on yourself and ask the inner critic to keep the noise down. In this moment, we are all as we should be; beautiful, unique beings with nothing that needs to be fixed.

Center your awareness into the middle of your heart, breathe into that space deeply and notice how incredible you are!

Happy New Year and may 2010 hold peace, growth, good health and deep joy for all of us.

Winter Solstice

Sitting in the middle of the busy holiday season is the Winter Solstice (Summer Solstice for my Southern hemisphere friends). For the past three years, we have held a small gathering to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

During the evening we sing mostly yoga based chants and mantras (but the Beatles got a good showing this year); we sit quietly in meditation and then we eat...vegan and vegetarian food that people contribute to the evening and drink tea.



This year we added something new. I asked everyone at the beginning of the evening, to write on a piece of paper what they would like to begin to manifest in the upcoming months. What is it that you want to bring into your life? What is it that you need? What is something that is completely supportive of you and feeds your soul?



At the end of the meditation, we all then placed our written intentions into the fire, symbolizing releasing the intention to the Universe, letting the idea be carried out of our hands and into something metaphorically bigger.



If we have these seeds of growth sitting in our consciousness without the source of light or energy, how will they ever come to be realized? It's like having all the knowledge of the benefits of exercise but never moving.



Until we begin to realize and then act upon our intentions, they remain as seed pods that are dormant. When we begin to recognize, honor and then feed these ideas they begin to grow, as does our own transformation.



I love the idea of the Winter Solstice as it relates to light. The actual day in 2009 is December 21 representing the shortest day of the year as it relates to the number of daylight hours that we see. From December 22 the day light hours begin to lengthen.



Stepping from darkness into light.



Isn't that what our own personal growth is about? Gaining clarity about our own life path and purpose? Moving from ignorance towards greater wisdom? Turning inward to see our own inner light's radiance?



Let's take a moment on December 21 and connect to our inner radiance and all the potential that is sitting within.



Peaceful Solstice.



Love and Light.